Video-assisted grabbing: a minimally destructive method of sampling azooxanthellate coral banks

Traditional techniques used to sample azooxanthellate coral banks by dredge and trawl cause extensive impact to both the corals and surrounding seabed . Modern sampling techniques using submersibles and remotely operated vehic les cause ver); little or no damage, but are expensive and require speciali zed vessels. Here we describe a combination of video camera and benthic gra b for sampling azooxanthellate corals and Lest this method on a Lophelia pe rtusa bank in Osterfjorden, western Norway. The video-assisted grab was suc cessfully used both for locating and sampling L. pertusa. This method can l argely replate the use of traditional, more destructive dredging and trawli ng techniques for sampling azooxanthellate corals.